92000E3263

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3263/00

by Jonas Sjöstedt (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(20 October 2000)

Subject: Reciprocal defence guarantees in the EU

During a visit to Latvia on 10 February 2000, the Commission President Romano Prodi stated that any attack or act of aggression against an EU Member State was an attack or act of aggression against the EU as a whole.

Does the Commission consider, therefore, that the Member States are bound by reciprocal defence guarantees?

Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission

(30 November 2000)

The Commission regrets that some comments on this issue have been taken out of context. In discussions with Lithuanian President Adamkus, the President of the Commission affirmed that membership of the Union gave a sense of belonging and that this was in a real sense an effective guarantee of security. What the President of the Commission said during his visit to Latvia was that membership of the Union represents the enhancement of national economic and political security through membership of the world's largest trading bloc, largest aid giver and largest provider of technical assistance to the countries of Eastern and Central Europe. So, there should be no confusion between the sense of security brought by the membership of an enlarging Union and the kind of territorial security commitment provided by the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and Western European Union (WEU) treaties, which were not part of the discussions. The use of the word attack had no military significance.

It may be helpful to distinguish between two component parts of the overall European security and defence equation territorial defence and Petersberg tasks. Issues of territorial defence should, of course, be raised with Member States themselves. Military implications of individual Member States' policy in the defence area fall squarely into the national domain. As to a territorial security commitment, such as that provided by article V of the NATO Treaty and article 5 of the WEU Treaty, this concerns only those EU Member States which have signed those treaties. In addition, territorial defence does not form part of ongoing discussions within the framework of ESDP.

The Union's stated aim is to be ready to support action within the framework of Petersberg tasks. All Member States agree on this and are ready to contribute.

There is, of course, an umbilical link between the military and non-military dimensions of conflict prevention, conflict resolution and crisis management. It is in these areas that the Union, its Member States and the Commission are increasingly active.